Une convergence d’intérêts : la collaboration entre les services secrets français et britanniques au Levant pendant la Première Guerre mondiale

Un manuel récent compare les services de renseignements modernes à une entreprise multinationale. De ce point de vue, les services de renseignements se mesurent non pas seulement à l’aune de leur efficacité sur le territoire national, mais également à celle de l’ampleur de la collaboration – et de ses effets – avec des partenaires étrangers. Attestées dès la Première Guerre mondiale, les premières expressions de cette « multinationalité » des services de renseignement modernes se sont multipl..

Intelligence and the origins of the British Middle East

This article examines how intelligence services and officers laid the groundwork for British rule in Palestine during 1918–23. The patterns for British rule in the Middle East were established by officers who, during the First World War, were responsible for the implementation of Britain's Arab and Zionist policies. It was not until mid-1919 that the inherent conflict between the Arab and Zionist policies became apparent to these officers, who had worked with Zionist intelligence and Arab nationalists during the war. This article examines the roots of British rule during 1919–21 as intelligence cooperation with Zionists helped guarantee a British Mandate, but could not secure the country from violence forever. The zero-sum conflict between Arab nationalist and Zionists emerged as British policy options narrowed.This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

De Bonaparte à Balfour

La première partie de la grande épopée du Proche-Orient . Une somme réunissant les meilleurs spécialistes, par-delà tous les clivages partisans. Expédition d’Égypte, réveil de la Palestine, rivalités entre grandes puissances, surenchère d’investissements, établissement de comptoirs, de missions religieuses, développement de programmes archéologiques, de réseaux hospitaliers… Sur fond d’Empire ottoman vieillissant, le regard de l’Occidental sur l’Orient se met à changer. De province reculée, elle devient un enjeu aussi original qu’unique de la diplomatie internationale. Esther Benbassa, Catherine Nicault, Jacques Thobie… nous racontent avec talent cette mutation appelée à bouleverser la donne mondiale. Un livre passionnant sur la Palestine d’avant les Mandats

Listening in combat - surveillance technologies beyond the visual in the First World War

The arts of combat have long motivated humans to extend the range of, and refine the capacities of, their senses. For centuries, innovations from both military and civilian origins have extended and enhanced those capacities in ever-escalating strategic efforts to secure crucial intelligence both to win battles and win new markets. Much is known about the visual technologies that co-evolved between civilian and military usage: the telescope in the seventeenth century, the observation balloon in the eighteenth century, and the submarine periscope in nineteenth century, extended to trench usage in the First World War. We focus here on the sense of hearing, its technological enhancements, and its interplay with other senses, thereby to explore the sensory interplay of vision and sound in extreme human combat situations. We argue that, both for those at the battle front and those remote from it, the significance of this increased significant of hearing in the early twentieth century cannot be understood without reference to the combat experiences and technological initiatives of the First World War. Our core claim is that the rise of listening cultures of various forms during and after the First World War owed much to the changing technologies, strategies and behaviors, cultivated in the context of military endeavors